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I am looking to build a simple HTPC based on boxee, it is a very low power machine (2ghz P4, 1gb RAM, 1gb video card).
At present it has Win7 on it, but I want to run boxee as my media centre software (I love the watch later facility) and I was wondering what it would run best on?
If linux, what distro and why?
Mild Fuzz
Posted 2011-03-08T09:40:00.923
Reputation: 693
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Absolutely linux.
I'd choose a very light flavour of it: Linux Mint Fluxbox.
Pitto
Posted 2011-03-08T09:40:00.923
Reputation: 1 766
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I would suggest ubuntu over windows because it would work better than windows on that hardware and ubuntu over other distros because it is easier to install,has a large hardware support and a large community.
Lincity
Posted 2011-03-08T09:40:00.923
Reputation: 132
I am a little nervous of linux, is setting up going to be straightforward? I would like to run sopcast on there as well. – Mild Fuzz – 2011-03-09T11:01:09.830
1You will love it.
A little pain adds spice to how you'll enjoy (and show off) your work.
The community's huge and willing to help :) – Pitto – 2011-03-09T17:32:45.097
Struggling with the first hurdle, how do I install boxee? the sources I have seen don't work! – Mild Fuzz – 2011-03-10T12:22:14.410
Which kind of linux did you choose? Ubuntu? You just have to add boxee repository in that case (or download the .deb file) :) Give more info so I can help – Pitto – 2011-03-10T22:28:23.023
Sorted it now, the instructions I had gave the wrong codename for the ubuntu base for Mint (if that makes any sense). Boxee does seem a little jumpy. I'm running in emulation on an 8 core, 8gb machine, but restricting to the spec I have in the machine it is intended for. Is 1gb RAM too litte, I wonder? – Mild Fuzz – 2011-03-11T09:03:25.870
I do believe that the main problem here could be the poor performance of emulated graphic card. Installing on raw hardware should do the job. If you plan to see HD movies maybe your setup hasn't enough horsepower... – Pitto – 2011-03-11T09:23:49.970
That is my plan, do you think additional RAM would do the job? – Mild Fuzz – 2011-03-11T11:28:30.050
1I do not have experience of full HD on Pentium 4... You should try if the old friend can handle it :)
RAM Always helps but I'd try before buying more – Pitto – 2011-03-11T11:30:54.010
http://is.gd/hK4HPD -> my GFX card. – Mild Fuzz – 2011-03-11T11:43:12.877
Here it sounds like good news: http://superuser.com/questions/116362/minimum-specs-needed-to-run-1080p-hd-movies
– Pitto – 2011-03-11T14:42:13.800Works brilliantly!! – Mild Fuzz – 2011-03-12T16:14:59.010
Horray! :D
Now the next step will be to get mad to let a remote control prepare you coffee with sugar cane instead of normal sugar to your guests while you enjoy your film/pictures :) – Pitto – 2011-03-14T15:52:34.887